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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE ILLUMINATION OF ENGLISH AND FRENCH FLEETS AT PORTSMOUTH by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER

First Line: THANKS TO THOSE FESTAL FIRES! MANKIND SHALL BE
Last Line: AND HOW THE BELLS OF WELCOME PEALED AND CHIMED!
Subject(s): NAVY - FRANCE; NAVY - GREAT BRITAIN; PEACE; PORTSMOUTH, ENGLAND; FRENCH NAVY; ENGLISH NAVY;

Thanks to those festal fires! mankind shall be
All brothers now! since France and England met,
The far-seen glow of their great amity
Hangs on the world's horizons: they have set
A glorious fashion! On the illumined flood
Their two great navies, like some mighty raft,
Rode in their oneness; without spleen or craft,
They met in light - God saw that it was good;
And, oh! those long-drawn rockets, how they climbed,
To fill the very heaven with tricolors!
What healths we drank, by booming cannon timed!
And how the city swarmed from all her doors
To greet the Frenchman on our English shores!
And how the bells of welcome pealed and chimed!



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